Past, Present, and Future
by bingblot
Summary: Kate runs into Josh when she and Castle are engaged and Josh reflects on Kate and Castle's relationship. Some fluff to get through this mini-hiatus. One-shot set in early S6.


Disclaimer: All things "Castle" belong to the powers that be at ABC.

Author's Note: What comes of rewatching S3. Some fluff to get through this mini-hiatus waiting for more "Castle." Set in early S6.

**Past, Present, and Future**

Josh stuffed the change into his pocket and spared a quick, impersonal smile for the barista as he picked up his coffee. "Thanks."

He turned and left the coffee shop as he opened the tab on the cover of the cup, pausing briefly to just breathe in the scent of it, letting the familiar smell of coffee—the caffeine—swirl through his senses and prod his tired brain into something more like awareness. A long, busy overnight shift at the hospital had really taken it out of him and all he wanted to do was let himself into his apartment, shower, and then collapse into bed and sleep for, oh, 10 hours or so. Or at least until Mel got home from her own shift.

He looked up, turning his steps towards Mel's apartment, and then paused, his eyes focusing on a familiar profile, a familiar spill of wavy hair. Kate.

She was standing just a few feet away from him at the intersection, waiting for the light to change. As he watched, she pulled out her phone, glancing at it, and he saw the flash of her teeth as she smiled at whatever it was she read on her phone.

"Kate," he heard himself say, before his tired brain could even begin to wonder if maybe this wasn't such a great idea. After all, running into an ex was always a little awkward, at best, and he and Kate had not really parted on the best of terms. He had been… upset… hurt and angry and if he hadn't been too aware that Kate had still been recovering from a near-fatal gunshot wound, Josh knew he would have said a lot more, spoken more harshly, than he had at the time, but even so, he knew their break-up had not been his finest moment, to say the least. But it was too late now.

Her head jerked up at the sound of her name and he saw surprise flash across her expression before it was gone, chased by a rather hesitant smile. "Josh. Hi."

He stopped in front of her as she turned to face him. "Hi," he offered, awkwardly, and then added, "It's been a while." An understatement, really, since it had been more than two years. The last time he'd seen her she'd still been in the hospital trying to recover from being shot.

She let out a small laugh at that inane observation. "Yeah. So, uh, how have you been?"

"Good. I'm good. And you—how are you doing?" he asked, automatically, but even as he spoke, his eyes had been rapidly assessing her and realized that the question was unnecessary. He could see she was doing well.

She looked good. Amazingly good, really. Well, Kate had always been gorgeous but he was also used to seeing her look tired or preoccupied. She worked a lot and her job was a hard one and he understood that Kate was generally a serious person. She looked… different now. Happier.

"I'm doing well."

"That's good. You look great," he responded dumbly, nodding a little too much, and he knew he probably sounded like an idiot but this was surprisingly awkward and he fell back automatically into professional mode. "And you're fully recovered? No lingering complications or anything?"

She sobered slightly but answered directly, "I'm fine, completely back to normal." She paused and then added, "The scar doesn't even pull anymore."

He nodded, pushing away the memory of Kate bleeding out on that hospital gurney, of having to operate on her. "That's good. It can take up to a year for the body to fully heal from that sort of invasive procedure. I'm glad you're completely recovered, Kate."

She nodded and then lifted a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear in one of her habitual gestures that he remembered as her way of buying an extra moment when she wasn't sure what to say. And his attention was snared and held by an errant flash of sunlight sparkling off—

"You're engaged," he blurted out, staring at the ring on her finger.

Kate startled and blushed a little, her hand falling immediately. "Oh. Oh, yeah, I am."

Josh smiled and he didn't even need to force it—and suddenly, amazingly, the awkwardness was gone and he was just… happy for her. "That's great news. Congratulations." He paused and then added, "It's Castle, isn't it." It wasn't a question. He knew it had to be Castle.

Her eyes flew up to his, the color in her cheeks increasing. "Uh, yeah, it is. Josh, I—"

She looked and sounded less than comfortable and Josh quickly added, "It's okay, Kate, really. I'm happy for you." To complete his reassurance, he went on. "I'm engaged too. We're getting married in two months."

"Oh, wow, Josh, that's awesome." Now her smile was bright, one of the brightest smiles he'd ever seen Kate give, her stance a little more relaxed.

He returned her smile. "Yeah, it's good. Mel and I… we're happy."

"Her name is Mel?"

"Yeah. Melissa. We met on one of the Doctors without Borders missions."

"That's nice, that you have that in common." Her smile faded and some hesitation returned to her expression before she added, with a tinge of awkwardness, "That must help."

He nodded, his own smile fading at this reminder of some of their own arguments. Josh knew that it hadn't really been his travels that had made him and Kate break up but it hadn't helped. The conflict between his calling and their relationship had torn at him, made things difficult. "It does. Mel and I… we fit." With Melissa, there was no conflict because she felt the same calling and not only understood the hardships and sacrifices it required but was also just as committed to going on the missions as he was. Josh had thought that because Kate knew what it was like to have a calling, knew how driven Kate was to find justice for the victims of murder, that Kate would understand his own calling. But it hadn't worked that way. Kate had understood what it meant to have a calling but the reality of it, of his constant absences, had worn on her. And he understood that too. Long-distance relationships were hard enough to begin with; long distance relationships that meant that contact was sporadic at best were even harder and couldn't be sustained for long.

And of course, there had been the other problem that Kate had been in love with another man, Josh thought but without bitterness.

"I'm glad. I'm really happy for you, Josh."

Josh felt his expression softening automatically at the thought of Mel. "Thanks, Kate. And I'm happy for you too." He suddenly remembered something and had to laugh a little. "Oh, you'll like this. Mel likes Castle's books."

Kate laughed. "Oh, does she really?"

He grinned. "Yeah, she does. I mean, Mel doesn't have a lot of time to read but when she gets the chance, she always makes sure to read Castle's latest book. Actually, that's sort of how we got to know each other. I first noticed her because she was reading one of the Nikki Heat books."

She smiled rather wryly, as she shook her head a little. "Castle's book covers are certainly distinctive. They'd be hard to miss."

"I think that's the point of a book cover," he pointed out.

She nodded in agreement. "Did you tell her that you've met Castle?"

Josh smiled. "Yeah, I mentioned it and yes, Kate, she knows about you, knows that you're…" he trailed off, not quite sure how to phrase it.

She rolled her eyes a little as she finished for him, "The real Nikki Heat?"

He relaxed. "Yeah, that. Mel thought it was cool, evidence of what a small world it is." He'd wondered before if Kate's irritation whenever the subject of her alter ego came up wasn't a little overblown, especially given how much he knew Kate liked Castle's books, but had not questioned it. If anything, he had entirely understood Kate's annoyance with the whole Nikki Heat thing so he'd found it easy to believe it but then again he had never understood what Kate saw in Castle's writing to begin with.

Kate's smile softened. "She sounds nice. I'm glad you're happy, Josh."

Josh smiled automatically at the mention of Mel. "Does Castle make you happy, Kate?"

Kate ducked her head in another of her habitual motions, her hand automatically touching the ring on her finger, before she looked back up at him, a soft, almost shy smile curving her lips that Josh didn't think he'd ever seen before. "Yeah, he does," she said quietly.

Oh wow. Josh had never thought, never even imagined, that Kate Beckett, who was one of the most strong-minded, independent women he'd ever met in his life, could look so… so… he couldn't even think of a word to describe it except that she looked softer somehow and certainly happier than he'd ever seen her. Happier and younger too. Looking at her now, Josh found it almost hard to believe that this woman routinely carried a gun and spent her life chasing after criminals except that he knew it was true. She looked _different_ now, his tired brain not quite able to pinpoint why. Looking at her now, he hardly recognized the Kate Beckett he had known and cared about, the Kate Beckett who had always been so guarded about her emotions, who had always insisted she was fine.

That was the difference, Josh's brain belatedly recognized. Kate was _happy_, a happiness that ran deep inside her, happy and hopeful and confident in that happiness—and her expression was open enough that he could see it. Josh had never felt that he'd been able to read Kate well; she was too guarded. He'd used to think that Kate must really be a frighteningly good poker player with her ability to shield her thoughts and emotions. And for someone who generally believed he could read people pretty well—a person couldn't spend so much time in foreign countries dealing with people who often didn't speak English and lived lives about as far removed from his own New York roots as it was possible to get without getting better at reading people's expressions and body language—Josh never really had been able to tell what Kate was feeling or thinking about and she'd never shared much either. Kate had been reserved, at best, when it came to anything personal and that reticence had preserved a certain distance between them, and while at first, Josh had made allowances and figured they simply needed to get to know each other better, after a while, it had gotten tiring. Josh had honestly cared about Kate but he spent his days (and a lot of nights) having to communicate with people under the worst and most stressful of circumstances so when he was off work, he didn't want to have to dig deep to decipher meanings, didn't want to have to push and prod for every single bit of information.

It was something he realized and appreciated even more now, with Mel. Because Mel was different. She was outgoing and open; she didn't hesitate to express her emotions. She could be impatient and occasionally quick-tempered which had led to a few arguments but at the very least, he was never in doubt about what she was feeling.

Kate hadn't been like that. Josh used to think, in some exasperation, that dealing with Kate practically required an interpreter. But now, well, now he could see that Kate was happy, positively brimming over with hope for the future. He could see that she was in love, which was something he'd never seen before. He'd guessed at Kate's feelings for Castle from reading between the lines of things she said about him, from the frequency of Kate's references to Castle in conversation, even from the very quality of her laughs when she laughed over something Castle had said or done. But it had been speculation, guessing, and at least partially founded on jealousy. Now, though, now Josh could see that Kate was in love with Castle and happy with him, _because_ of him.

And it occurred to Josh that Richard Castle must have hidden depths to him for Kate to be able to love him so much and for him to be able to make Kate Beckett so happy. Josh would be the first to admit that he didn't particularly like the writer; from what he'd seen of Castle in the papers and from some of the stories Kate had told from her work, the writer had sounded like an irresponsible playboy and an over-enthusiastic child, albeit a persistent one, who had essentially barged into Kate's life and refused to leave. He had never understood how Kate, who was so driven and intelligent and so intensely private, could tolerate Castle, let alone why she found his immature exploits to be amusing and not annoying, or how Kate could trust Castle, as she so obviously did, to be her partner at work. Kate was not someone who suffered fools easily and she certainly didn't trust easily. And yet, amazingly, Josh had come to realize that Kate cared about and trusted Castle probably more than she cared about or trusted anyone else in her life with the exception of her own father. Kate had certainly trusted Castle more than she trusted Josh himself.

"I'm glad. You deserve to be happy," Josh said, adding after a moment, on an impulse, "I hope you let him take care of you, let him help you when you need it, Kate." The way she had not let Josh himself take care of her or help her or even let him know when she needed help at all.

Kate's expression softened as she glanced down at the ring on her finger again. "He does help me," she admitted quietly.

It was probably the closest thing to an admission of actually needing help that Josh had ever heard Kate say and again Josh was struck by how much more open Kate was now.

"That's good to know."

Kate nodded. "Listen, it was good to see you but I'm on my way to meet my dad and I need to go if I don't want to be late."

Josh nodded, mentally kicking himself. Wow, his brain was tired and not functioning properly. "Right, of course. Take care of yourself, Kate. I'm really glad to see you're doing so well and that you're happy."

Kate smiled at him. "Yeah, I will and you too, Josh. Congratulations, again, on getting married. It's great that you and Mel are so happy."

"I'd tell you to say hi to Castle for me but somehow I don't think he'd appreciate it much," Josh observed jokingly.

Kate rolled her eyes a little and laughed. "That's not true," she protested rather weakly.

Josh only laughed, hesitated, and then lifted his free hand to touch Kate briefly on her arm. "It was good to see you, Kate."

"Yeah, same here. Bye, Josh."

"Bye, Kate."

She gave him a last smile and a small wave as she set out to cross the street and he watched her go for a moment before he too continued on his way.

Kate Beckett. Of all the people to run into this morning. Josh smiled faintly and shook his head a little at the coincidence. He would tell Mel about it later and he could already picture the look on her face.

It had been awkward at first but he was glad it had happened. Glad to know that Kate was doing so well, fully recovered from her terrible shooting and happy now, happy in a way Josh had never seen her be before.

Josh belatedly realized that he should probably have asked Kate how her dad was doing. After all, he had met Jim Beckett a couple times and he'd liked Jim. Although it occurred to Josh that after the way Josh had lost control and gone after Castle in the hospital right after Kate's shooting, Jim was unlikely to think particularly highly of him right now.

For that matter, Josh supposed he owed Castle an apology of sorts for that moment too. It had not been his finest moment, to say the least, and Josh had felt bad about it later but really, he dared any man to keep his cool when he'd just seen his girlfriend's heart stop as she bled out from a gunshot wound. Performing an emergency surgery always got his adrenaline up and the combination of that with the added stress of it being Kate on that table—Kate, who had been _shot_ when she'd been at a funeral, Kate, who had been so close to not making it—had made him lose his head and he'd made an ass of himself.

He let out a breath and shook his head a little to clear it of the memories. It had been more than two years ago. He had moved on and Kate had moved on and they were both better off and happy now. He found himself smiling a little. Kate Beckett engaged to Richard Castle. Who would have thought?

* * *

Kate stirred, finishing off the wine remaining in her glass before leaning over to put the glass down on the table.

They had finished dinner a little while ago and Kate was now pleasantly full and relaxed as she curled up on the couch.

In the kitchen, she could hear the soft sounds of Castle cleaning up after dinner. She had cooked so he had insisted on taking care of the clean-up and had given her a gentle push in the direction of the couch, dropping a kiss on her hair as he did so. She let her eyes close, listening to the sound of Castle's tuneless humming as he worked, feeling her body sink even deeper into the cushions of the couch. She wasn't sleepy, just feeling lazy and warm and happy and entirely disinclined to move in a way that was uncharacteristic of her but she was finding that more and more these days, this lazy side of her was coming out when she was with Castle in the loft. She was just… happy and at home here and kind of wallowing in this wonderful, safe feeling of a _sure_ love.

"Falling asleep on me, Beckett?"

She opened her eyes at the sound of his voice, half-amused and half-tender, and felt her lips curving into an automatic, soft smile as so often happened whenever she saw him these days because she loved him and he loved her and she was going to _marry_ him.

"Nope, not sleepy," she answered him. "Come sit," she directed, tugging on his hand until he easily fell onto the couch next to her. "No, not like that," she informed him as he made to pull her into his arms, pushing him back against the side of the couch instead and turning until her back was resting against his chest, her head on his shoulder and his arm around her. He let her arrange them to her satisfaction and she loved him for it, loved the way he willingly let himself be her personal teddy bear of sorts when she was feeling like cuddling, just as she loved when he occasionally took charge, using his greater bulk and strength to keep her completely hemmed in.

She felt his low chuckle rumble through his chest. "Peremptory and snuggly at the same time. You really are a conundrum, Beckett."

"Using your big words there, Writer Boy."

He laughed again as Kate suddenly remembered the chance encounter that morning, the teasing moniker reminding her of another one: Motorcycle Boy.

She shifted on the couch, lowering her feet to the floor again and turned to face him, since this wasn't a conversation to have with him without being able to see his face. "Oh, guess who I ran into this morning on my way to brunch with my dad."

He smirked and raised his eyebrows at her. "The mayor. No, wait, the president. No, Mr. Spock!"

She laughed. Silly man. "Wrong on all counts. Care to try again?"

"Hmm. Robert Downey, Jr.?"

She grinned at him and leaned forward to press a deliberately smacking kiss against his cheek. "Oh Castle, don't you know that if I ever met Robert Downey Jr., I'd run off with him?" she teased.

He smirked at her. "No, you wouldn't."

She raised her eyebrows at him teasingly. "You sure about that?"

He gave her one of his infuriating smug looks, the one that used to make her want to hit him and now made her want to kiss the smirk off his face—oh fine, she'd always wanted to kiss the smirk off his face but she wasn't going to admit it to anyone, ever. "He's too short for you. You like guys who are tall, like, say, me."

She had to laugh at the way he waggled his brows at her on the last word. Although he wasn't wrong. "Mm, for Robert Downey Jr., I'd make an exception."

His hands went to her waist and tugged him against her. "Oh, no, you won't, Kate. You're mine now and I'm never letting you go."

She opened her mouth to make a snarky comment but he kissed her before she could and she promptly lost any wish to be snarky and melted into the kiss, melted into him.

"Kate," he mumbled against her skin as he pressed a string a light kisses up her cheek. "Who did you run into this morning?"

She smiled to herself. Always so curious, he couldn't leave an unanswered question. And then she let out a soft gasp as his lips found the sensitive spot just below her ear. "I… I ran into Josh."

He stiffened and abruptly drew back, his head lifting. "Josh," he repeated. "As in Motorcycle Boy?"

And oh, his voice had changed from the lazy (seductive) murmur or the teasing voice redolent with cockiness and laughter to be replaced with something harder, the faintest echo of the jealousy and the hurt that used to be in his voice and in his eyes whenever the mention of Josh came up so long ago now, back when they were friends always hovering on the verge of becoming more, back when she'd been too scared to admit how much she needed Castle, wanted Castle.

"Yeah, that Josh," she answered, lifting her hand to touch his cheek in silent reassurance. "We ran into each other on the sidewalk as I was heading to meet my dad. One of those random coincidences. First time I've seen him since we broke up, actually."

"So you talked to him?"

"We talked for a couple minutes. He asked how I was, asked about my recovery."

"Your recovery?"

"The last time he saw me, I was still in the hospital and I think he felt awkward so he went into doctor mode for a bit, said that I looked good and he was glad I'd recovered so well."

"What was he doing, complimenting you?" There was something of an edge in Castle's voice now.

She brushed her thumb over his lower lip in one of the little caresses that she knew would distract him. "Well, in fairness, the last time he saw me, I looked absolutely terrible."

"No, you didn't," he interrupted.

She gave him a small, soft smile at the implied compliment. Ridiculous, sweet man. "Castle, I was in the hospital and wasn't even able to brush my own hair. Of course I looked awful."

"You didn't," he repeated. "I saw you in the hospital and you were still beautiful."

_Oh Castle. _She sobered, feeling her heart warm along with the pinch of guilt at the memory of that day in the hospital, of seeing him again and the suffocating pressure of emotion that had swamped her at the sight of him, of his tentative, eager, hopeful, _loving_ expression. "Castle…"

He met her eyes. "You were still beautiful," he repeated softly. "I remember that. I'd spent almost 48 hours terrified that you might not make it, that I'd never see you again, and then I did and you were awake and still _you_ and you were the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, Kate."

She leaned forward and kissed him. "Oh Castle, I don't know how you can still say that, when I broke your heart right afterwards."

"I can say it because it's true and you didn't hurt me that day."

"Rick, we both know that I broke your heart then," she said softly, with all the regret and guilt she felt in her voice.

Castle lifted one hand to cup her cheek even as he sighed, his eyes darkening with remembered hurt. "Kate, you didn't hurt me that day because I believed you would call and I thought when you did, we'd… talk and I was going to tell you…"

"That you loved me," she finished for him.

The corners of his lips lifted slightly into a faint smile. "Present tense, Kate." His smile faded. "When I left you in the hospital, I had hope and I clung to that hope for weeks. It wasn't until I accepted that you weren't going to call that I gave up and then…" He broke off and she knew he wouldn't say outright that she'd broken his heart. Partly because the memory was still painful for him and partly because he didn't want to hurt her. Castle was still, always, so protective of her feelings; part of that was his own generous, compassionate heart that never liked to see anyone hurt but it was also because he loved her and she knew he would never deliberately hurt her.

It was a precious, humbling thing to know and all Kate could do was silently promise to give him all the love and trust she was capable of, be as protective of him and his tender heart as she could be, and never ever hurt him again if she could possibly help it.

She kissed him again, softly. Because she sometimes thought she'd never forgive herself for the way she'd hurt him so much, even if she'd honestly thought it was what she needed at the time. "If I could go back and change anything, it would be that summer and the way I ran away and shut you out, you know that, right, Rick?"

"I know."

There was a brief silence that he broke by asking, with a quirk of his lips, "So, how is Motorcycle Boy doing?"

She smothered a smile at the nickname. So typically Castle, to use such a juvenile nickname as a way of acknowledging his otherwise-unexpressed jealousy. "He's doing well. He's engaged actually and getting married in two months."

"Motorcycle Boy is engaged? Really?"

"Yes, really. They met on a Doctors Without Borders mission. Oh, and he said his fiancée likes your books."

"At least her taste in literature is better than her taste in men," Castle smirked.

Kate poked him in the side, making him yelp. "Watch it, Castle, since I dated Josh for a year, what are you implying about my taste in men?"

"That it's gotten much better over the past couple years," he shot back immediately and she bit back a laugh.

"You so sure of that, Castle? Josh is pretty cute and Lanie always referred to him as my hot doctor boyfriend."

"But was he named one of New York's top 10 Most Eligible Bachelors several years in a row?"

She laughed and lightly flicked his ear. "I guess that must make me the real winner since I'm the one that caught that Eligible Bachelor."

He caught her hand in his and brought it to his lips to kiss her palm, giving her one of his real smiles, the ones that didn't have even the faintest hint of a smirk. "You've definitely caught me, Kate. Now I'm yours for life."

She smiled and let her fingers caress his cheek. "I guess I can put up with you for the rest of my life if you can put up with me."

"That's an awfully long time to have to put up with you. I'll have to think about it," he said with mock gravity. She laughed and reached for his ear to threaten him with an ear-twisting and he jerked away, cowering exaggeratedly. "Apples! Okay, I can put up with you too."

She smirked. "Good." She kissed him again and then settled against him, her head resting comfortably against his shoulder.

She felt rather than saw his smile as he brushed his lips against her forehead, his hand stroking her hair.

"I told Josh about us. He saw my ring and guessed that it was you," she told him after a moment.

"He guessed? How could he possibly know about us?"

"Give Josh some credit, Castle. He's not an idiot. By the time we broke up, I'm sure he knew how I felt about you." Kate left unsaid that she was sure of it because Josh had said just that when they'd broken up. Had accused her of not letting him be there for her or help her in any real way, no matter how he tried, and that she'd made it clear that there was no room in her life or her heart for him because Castle was already there.

"Hmph. I don't see how he could when _I_ didn't even know at the time," he responded in a rather disgruntled mumble.

She lifted her head just enough to press a kiss to his chin before settling her head against his shoulder again. "He might have been in a better position to know since he was the one left on the outside, even though I was still with him at the time." She paused and then added more quietly, "I was a terrible girlfriend. I didn't treat Josh fairly; he deserved better than that."

"Don't beat yourself up over it, Kate. He was away so much and you were going through some things and it's hard for us to really see our own lives clearly while we're going through it, to understand what we need to do."

Kate was struck, yet again, at the depths of Castle's understanding. In spite of how jealous and how hurt she knew he had been over Josh, he still didn't let her blame herself for being with Josh or staying with Josh for so long. And she knew that he didn't blame her for any of it himself. For all his humor and his jokes and his silliness, he understood. It was that instinctive empathy and compassion in him and she loved that about him. He was such a student of human nature. It was part of what she'd always enjoyed about his books, part of what made him helpful in their cases, that he was good at piecing together motives, the reasons people did what they did.

"It was good to see him."

She felt his head draw back a little to look at her. "Oh, was it?" There was the faintest suggestion of a growl in his voice and she felt a small reactive shiver go through her at the sound. She loved it when his voice got that rough edge to it that usually meant the more dominant, hard-edged side of him was coming out and sometimes, like now, it was from a touch of jealousy and possessiveness. She'd never liked it when men were jealous or possessive before, had always bristled at it, but with Castle, it was different. Everything was different, when it came to Castle, really. Because she'd never loved anyone like she loved him.

She met his eyes. "I'm glad I ran into him because it's good to know he's happy now. I didn't treat Josh the way he deserved and I know I disappointed him and hurt him with the way we ended. It bothered me for a while. I felt guilty about it. Now…" She trailed off and gave a facial equivalent of a shrug. "He's happy. From what he said, it sounded like he and his fiancée are good for each other."

"All's well that ends well?" Castle suggested. "Motorcycle Boy's found his match and you found your match too."

She bit back a smile. "I've found my match, huh?"

"Yeah. A certain ruggedly-handsome writer."

She laughed and lifted her head to look at him. "Oh, I don't know. I can think of a few other ways to describe him."

He smirked at her. "Like what?"

She pretended to think about it. "Hmm. An egotistical wiseass with a real talent for annoying me?"

He put on an exaggerated pout. "You're mean, Beckett."

Another teasing description that had been on the tip of her tongue abruptly left her head as she looked at him, a warm, protective feeling bubbling up inside her. Pouting as he was, he looked boyish and, well, adorable and she suddenly didn't want to tease him anymore. She just… loved him and she had another of those moments of being a little blown away at the sheer intensity of what she felt for this man. This annoying, funny, kind, good man whom she'd hurt so deeply and who had still forgiven her. Her best friend. Her partner. Her… Castle.

She leaned closer until their noses were barely an inch apart, their breaths mingling, close enough so she could see the darker flecks in the blue of his eyes. "I can think of another way to describe him," she breathed.

"Yeah?" he asked, his voice slightly hoarse, his eyes darker, just as a result of her proximity.

"He's also the love of my life," she told him softly. And she just saw the surprise and joy and love flare in his eyes before she kissed him.

_~The End~_

A/N 2: I know I'm most likely in a minority but I've never hated Josh and always figured he must have been a nice guy for Kate to like him as much as she said she did. So this was my attempt at redeeming him.

Thank you, everyone, for reading. I always love to know what people think about my writing.


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